{"id":88054,"date":"2026-01-18T09:24:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=88054"},"modified":"2026-01-18T09:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:27:46","slug":"reinnes-place-grief-coffee-shop-drunk-driver-girlfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/do\/reinnes-place-grief-coffee-shop-drunk-driver-girlfriend","title":{"rendered":"After a drunk driver killed his girlfriend, boyfriend opens coffee shop honoring her memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Oct. 2, 2022, Tommy Le\u2019s life was shattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While driving with his girlfriend, Reinne Lim, the couple was struck head-on by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the freeway<\/a>. Lim died at the scene, and Le was left in critical condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple had met while Le was working as a barista, and they dreamed of one day opening a coffee shop of their own. In his eulogy for Lim, Le promised to make good on that dream, opening a shop in Lim\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three years of processing and starting to put his life back together, Le finally felt ready to make their shared dream a reality. He opened Reinne\u2019s Place to honor Lim and to hold space for love and grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s allowing me to keep what I have left of Reinne alive,\u201d Le said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinne\u2019s Place \u2014 which is currently operating as a pop-up in Open Gallery Long Beach while its brick-and-mortar is under construction \u2014 blends Filipino and Vietnamese flavors like ube, pandan, coconut and jackfruit to create unique drinks that can be ordered with espresso or matcha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tommy Le, the owner of Reinne’s Place in Long Beach on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Photo by Ashley Bolter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Le hopes the brick-and-mortar, which will be at 3902 E Fourth Street, will open within the next couple of months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last summer, when Le first saw the space, he knew it was perfect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wasn\u2019t necessarily looking for a location at that time, but he felt compelled to call the number on a for lease sign he saw while driving home one day. The building he was originally looking at was already taken, but the landlord suggested Le look at another building that was just a few minutes away. From there, everything fell into place for Le.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that’s when I knew that Reinne was making these things happen for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le described Lim as a free spirit who just wanted to have fun. She was ambitious, spontaneous and confident, living her life to the fullest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe just had so much energy and life to her,\u201d Le said. \u201cShe created this space and community around her that also felt free, where people could just be themselves around her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At Reinne\u2019s Place, Le hopes to foster that same sense of community. That starts with spending a couple more seconds to really connect with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI should be able to have a conversation with you, remember your order, remember your name,\u201d Le said. \u201cI often say I know a lot more about my regulars than I do about my own parents sometimes, because I see them every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinne\u2019s Place isn’t just building that community of support with customers, but with other small businesses as well, through collaborations known as Reinne Drops. These Reinne Drops allow other local businesses to host a pop-up event at Reinne\u2019s Place and be promoted on its social media platform (Reinne\u2019s Place currently has 15,000 followers on Instagram<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le lives by the idea that \u201cwhen he eats, everyone eats,\u201d and believes lifting others up is a key element in building community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lim, of course, is at the center of this community that Le is building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wanted to include her family and friends in some capacity. His brother suggested the idea of Reinne Checks: notecards modeled after guest checks from restaurants, where people can write something for Reinne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Reinne Checks give people a chance to write messages to loved ones they have lost, at Reinne’s Place in Long Beach on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Photo by Ashley Bolter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What started as a way for friends and family to write notes has evolved to touch the hearts of everyone who visits Reinne\u2019s Place. After reading the messages to Reinne displayed on the wall, customers started asking if they could write their own Reinne Checks to someone they had lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe beautiful thing about it is that people define loss in their own way and in their own capacities,\u201d Le said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le said those who don\u2019t know his story or the purpose of the Reinne Checks will often take pictures with them, thinking they\u2019re just cute decorations, but when they start to look closer, they end up crying as they relate to the feelings of love and grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He loves that Reinne\u2019s Place is fostering these connections between strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was always our number one goal, where it was like, serve an amazing coffee, but also, at the end of the day, be able to create a space that people felt understood and like felt the need to slow down and take it in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Reinne’s Place is temporarily operating out of Open Gallery Long Beach on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Photo by Ashley Bolter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Le plans to eventually digitize the hundreds of Reinne Checks that he\u2019s collected and put them in a gallery on the shop\u2019s website. Physical Reinne Checks will also be displayed on the walls of Reinne\u2019s Place’s new shop once the building is complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinne\u2019s Place is currently operating out of Open Gallery Long Beach, at 1740 E 7th Street. They are open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born out of grief, Reinne’s Place has become a space to foster connection, build community and remember loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":88051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"Born out of grief, Reinne's Place has become a space to foster connection, build community and remember loved ones.","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32367],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32346],"class_list":["post-88054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-do","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88054"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88060,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88054\/revisions\/88060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88054"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=88054"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=88054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}